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Pro Bike Check: Katie Compton’s Trek Crockett 9

Katie Compton, aka KFC, aka Katie F’n Compton, is pretty much a cyclocross household name at this point. Coming off of her 9th consecutive national championship, Katie is back at it for the Trek Cyclocross Collective. We caught up with Katie and Mark Legg-Compton in the pits to check out the new Crockett 9 she raced to victory just the evening before at the Cincy3Kings CX race, one of 3 races for the Cincy3 Cross festival weekend.

Check out some of the custom touches for Katie’s bike including a sneak peek of the new XXX carbon disc tubulars after the break!

Built with Katie’s direct input, the new Crockett 9 is the aluminum bike that replaces her previous Trek Ion CX, also an aluminum frame. Built specifically for cross racing, Katie opts for the disc brake equipped model. In addition to KFC, and the Tuned By M sticker (Mark Legg-Compton), Katie was also sporting Amy Dombroski’s name tag in honor of Amy who was tragically killed while training in Belgium. This was a pretty common sight in the pits, as many riders bikes’ wore decals to remember Amy.

One of the big standouts for the bike were the likely forthcoming Bontrager XXX tubular disc carbon wheels, with FMB white tires, with pink PRO casing.

The wheels were looking fairly production ready, with Mark telling us that these were a lighter version than the ones she had previously raced. Without a brake track, these are clearly disc only which would make them one of the first disc specific cross carbon tubulars that we know of. The hubs are Bontrager XXX Centerlock similar to the hubs on the Rhythm Pros as far as the stacked lacing. Katie was riding 140mm Avid HSX centerlock rotors front and rear.

When asked about the tires, Mark told us that the PRO casings were about more than just looks. Available in the Super Mud, Grifo, and SSC Sprint, the latex coating (only available in pink apparently) doesn’t absorb water like the cotton casings which makes the tires last longer, and because it offers more side wall support, Mark says they are able to run about 2psi lower than with a cotton casing. Additionally, the white rubber for the tread is a bit softer durometer which they have been liking for improved grip.

The cockpit is all carbon with a Bontrager XXX stem, RXL IsoZone Bar, and a Bontrager Race XXX Lite seatpost.

One of the few racers I saw with this shifter treatment, the SRAM Red 22 shifter paddle’s grip has been increased by the addition of a sand/epoxy mixture.

No cable crimps here – heat shrink is used on both cables to keep them from fraying. Drivetrain is a standard Red 22 group, though without the chain catcher since the Crockett has one built in.

Look closely at the rear dropouts and there is clear sealant that seals the vent holes in the tubes.

Instead of the standard Red chainrings, Katie is running her usual WickWerks chain rings, though this year it is a 42/34 combination.

@kevin, sorry you’re wrong. ” SRAM has officially announced that there will be a safety recall for select hydraulic road brakes. Affected brakes include both hydraulic rim and disc brakes in the Red 22 and S-700 component lines”

Those Bontrager rims are no joke, and they tip Trek’s hand with disc-equipped road bikes (no way that they developed those JUST for CX). Given the rumors about the UCI testing disc brakes in 2014/15, we can be reasonably certain that for 2015, Trek will have a disc-equipped Domane, at the least, with carbon disc-only (no rim brake track) clinchers and tubulars.

She has been with Trek for the last 2 years and had a huge hand in designing the Crockett. I got one and it is one of the best cross bikes I have ridden. I does not ride like an aluminum bike, very compliant. It corners great and has no toe overlap.

I don’t think she ditched sponsors so much as sponsors ditched her. Trek knew their cross bikes [deleted], so they cut her a fat check in order that she help design and ride their new CX bikes. They basically purchased her credibility, of which she has an endless well in this sport.

Smart move by Trek, because I’m seeing Crocketts all the time, under riders who would never normally be seen on a Trek.

Not a fan of KC ever since she made fun of fat people on her twitter feed.
Curious to see her doping control test dates?
My theory is usada/usac goes easy on her, since she sets the female bar for cx bike racing.
[deleted]

curious if this frame geo lines up with the crux?
[deleted]
trek is grabbing at straws to get sales numbers back up after loss of LA and bad press, ala signing KC and Nys.
Maybe nys and Kc will fight over geo designs. Nys will win.

“trek is grabbing at straws to get sales numbers back up after loss of LA and bad press, ala signing KC and Nys.”

Nothing could be further from the truth. Trek has set record sales every year for the past four years. The people who care about enough about Lance Armstrong not to buy a Trek are the same people who weren’t buying Treks in the first place. In fact, just the opposite is true, and Trek’s massive profits mean they’re sitting on boatloads of cash, which they are using to sign the top stars of cyclocross in order to better the design and increase interest in their previously lackluster cyclocross bikes.

By all accounts, the Crockett, designed with input from KfC, has been a huge hit. Whatever they come up with under Nys will likely be even more awesome.

Wouldn’t brag about having not having toe overlap, it means bad geometry. You’re stuck out over the bottom bracket, less power stroke and muscle use. Takes away the saddle as an anchor to push from which means you have to use your upper body as an anchor to push down from.

Still hate Trek, and very sad to see that Katie is not using Thomson bars, stem, seatpost anymore. Then to hear that Svn Nys is leaving Colnago to go to Trek just really made me sad. I will hate to see Nys pushing a Trek through the mud in the world cups next year, it just doesn’t seem right. But I guess everybody needs to get a bigger pay check.

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